


Glow

by feminabeata



Series: Femina Beata's Fan Service [7]
Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: M/M, Steampunk, and also another take on the same prompt, and an extension of the second take, how to post?, it's weird - Freeform, or my version of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-03
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-20 10:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2424815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feminabeata/pseuds/feminabeata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Woohyun has something that he needs to get off his chest. If only if he knew what it was...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Glow

**Author's Note:**

> Another prompt from ask.fm which is a link to a livejournal prompt (it was the same ask).
> 
> Saving the prompt until the end so I don't spoil any of the fun.
> 
> Also I didn't read the comic that this was based on. I hope that isn't a problem.

Being the son of an inventor wasn't fun, especially when you became their favorite test subject. It was even more irritating when you were testing the invention and your father refused to tell you what it was supposed to do.

"Let's just see if it works first. Then you'll know. Finding out if half the fun, don't you think?"

No, no it really wasn't. Most of the time the inventions didn't work, and Woohyun would end up in the doctor's office yet again with a new laceration or burn. And worst of all, if the invention didn't do what it was supposed to, his father would never tell him its purpose. He was too ashamed. Which left Woohyun in a perpetual state of curiosity. He spent many sleepless nights wondering what these gadgets were supposed to do (other than land him in the hospital). Then eventually he took matters into his own hands. Behind his father's back, he would take the discarded, failed inventions from the dumpsters and fix them. And he did fix several of them. The flying machine soared through the sky, and the pocket hand warmer actually warmed his hands and not set them aflame. Every time he would fix something, he would want to run and tell his father about it, but each time he stopped dead in his tracks. The only reason why he was successful was because his father had failed. And for the sake of their relationship, after fixing them, Woohyun would break them again and return them to the dumpster in the alley. It would have to be his little secret.

But Woohyun came across something that he couldn't fix. Since birth, he had a weak heart, and all of his father's experimentations only made it worse. Then, when he turned 20, his heart stopped after one of his father's inventions had sent a jolt through his body. He died that day; the doctor even pronounced it at 2:43 in the afternoon.

But at 2:46, he was alive again. His father had quickly rewired the invention, sending constant jolts to restart his son's heart. And with the help of the doctor, they were able to attach the gadget into his chest so that it could always set his heart's pace. It wasn't what the invention was for, but it saved his son's life. And that was the best result he could ask for.

Woohyun, thankfully, healed well. His heart stopped barely long enough for his brain to become damaged, but he had to live the rest of his life with a clunky piece of brass attached to his chest. He was very self-conscious of it, and since it could always be seen through his thin button down shirts, he took to wearing vests to cover it up. Even when the air was hot and muggy, he would still wear his wool vests. It made him look nice, but also made him very sweaty.

But the protection of his vest did not ward away the analytic eyes of his father. "Has it done anything yet?" he would always ask after Woohyun would catch him staring.

"Except for keeping me alive, no." Then his father would look disappointed and turned his attention back to tinkering. But Woohyun's curiosity was once again ignited. "Why? What's it supposed to do?"

His father would shrug and a knowing smile would form on his face. "Let's just see if it works first. Then you'll know. Finding out is half the fun, don't you think?"

Woohyun figured that he would never find out at this rate. This gadget, he was too afraid to try to fix it. He had asked his doctor if there was something odd about it, but he just replied that it just seemed like a make-shift pacemaker and nothing more. 

And when Woohyun asked if that he could replace it with an actual pacemaker, the doctor shook his head. It was too risky. His heart could stop again. And so Woohyun had to live with this bronze mysterious chunk on his chest, not knowing what exactly it was. His curiosity was slowly eating him up.

And it seemed like he would never receive an answer, or at least not from his father. In an ironic twist of fate, Woohyun’s father did die because of an invention; it just wasn’t his own. A rouge steam-powered car hurtled down the street and took his father along with it. His father was just running a simple errand with his mother. And now, after witnessing the metal crunching around and enveloping her husband, she was never the same.

That’s not to say she was normal to begin with. Just like his father, Woohyun’s mother was not without her eccentricities (at times, Woohyun thought he was the only sane one in his family). She always had a habit of talking to herself, narrating her daily activities. And for some reason, she always distrusted banks. These little oddities were only amplified after his father’s death. Not only did she talk to herself more, but Woohyun could swear that she heard him address his father from time to time like a ghost haunting her. She also withdrew all of their money from the bank and hid it within random places all around the house. On more than one occasion she had accidentally burned a large pile of money that she had hid earlier in the oven for “safe-keeping.”

Her only solace in her tumult was baking. The mixing and stirring and whatnot distracted her from her own thoughts. And so she baked from almost dawn until desk dusk. Woohyun decided to make the best of it and helped his mother open a bake shop. He, however, had his own shop to tend to; he had converted his father’s old gadget store into a repair shop. He worked there while his mother tended to the bakery. They would meet each other for meals, when they would chat (and sometimes his mother would try to involve her “husband” into the conversation). But other than that, they practically lived parallel lives, leaving Woohyun to wonder if he had lost a mother along with his father.

Woohyun wasn’t lonely though. He had a friend, Myungsoo, who was the son of his doctor, and so it was natural for them to become friends after Woohyun visited the doctor’s office so frequently. Even their fathers became best friends because of it.  And just like everyone else in his life, Myungsoo also had a slew of his own quirks. He was spacey, yet erratic, loyal to a fault, and fell in love too easily. Which was the reason why Myungsoo had forced Woohyun to close up his shop early and was now dragging him down the streets. Myungsoo had fallen in love with a florist, and he _needed_ Woohyun to come and see the girl who stole his heart (and hopefully give his approval). She had long, wavy hair and an innocent looking-face. She was his perfect girl all except…

“She doesn’t even understand Korean!” Woohyun argued. Lately, several immigrants had been flooding into the city from countries across the globe, and Myungsoo’s new love happened to be one of them. “And you _think_ she speaks French.” Myungsoo wasn’t even fazed and kept nodding happily, tugging his friend down the packed street. “You don’t even know French!”

“I can always learn,” Myungsoo retorted. He stopped and turned around. “Bonjour!” he greeted with a large smile and wave, but then his face fell into a serious expression. “See, I’m already learning.” He tugged again on Woohyun’s arm. “We have to hurry. Her shop will close soon.”

“Myungsoo,” Woohyun said with a warning tone, not looking forward to nursing a heartbroken friend again. He pulled his arm from Myungsoo’s grip.

Myungsoo turned around. “Hyung! Oh…” his voice dropped along with his eyes. He was now staring at Woohyun’s chest, right at his pacemaker.

Woohyun self-consciously put his hand over the slight obtrusion and stepped closer to his friend. “What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Myungsoo immediately shook his head. “I just thought…nah, that’s crazy.” He turned around. “Come on. Let’s go! Allons-y!” Woohyun just rolled his eyes and followed his now Francophile friend.

* * *

 

And the visit to the pretty florist went pretty much how Woohyun had expected. Myungsoo went up to the register with a single rose, and said “Bonjour” proudly. The florist was delighted to see someone speak her mother tongue and French words began spilling from her mouth like a river. Myungsoo’s face quickly fell and his eyes darted around in confusion. He didn’t know how to respond or even what she was saying. And after saying “oui” multiple times, he roughly dropped a couple of coins onto the counter and ran out of the shop with the rose. Woohyun laughed and put his arm around the shoulders of his now depressed friend, who was picking off the petals from the rose. “Next time,” Woohyun encouraged, giving the shoulder a couple of pats. “Next time you’ll know what to say.” Myungsoo just nodded and muttered something about studying more. But when they reached closer to home, Myungsoo finally lifted up his head and was about to say something to Woohyun but he stopped in his tracks and his jaw dropped. “Huh? What is it?”

“Hyung…you’re glowing,” Myungsoo stuttered, pointing at his chest.

Woohyun looked down and sure enough his pacemaker was emitting a pulsating light. The beam was so strong, it was shining through his thick gray vest. “Holy shit!” Woohyun exclaimed putting his hands over it. “What’s going on?”

“I-I don’t know!” Myungsoo stammered, peeling himself away from the other and staring in astonishment. “I-I thought y-you were glowing earlier but…”

“I what?! Why didn’t you tell me?” Woohyun yelled, stepping closer to Myungsoo threateningly. Myungsoo was stepping back with each step the other took forward. “Wh-“

“Oh, it stopped,” Myungsoo spoke with an odd calm.

Woohyun looked down, and sure enough, all he could see was dark gray wool. He threw back his head, sighing in relief. His heart was okay, but then again…it did something. His father’s invention did something. Was this it’s original purpose? What was it? His curiosity was ignited, and now its flame was consuming him whole. He stepped backwards, once, twice. His chest began glowing again. He looked about him for any hanging wires that might be interfering with the electromagnetic field. There were none. Woohyun closed his eyes _. Of course, if that was it, this would have happened when I walked by before._ He opened his eyes again and saw Myungsoo, whose eyes were glued to his chest in amazement. “Myung, do you notice anything new around here?”

Myungsoo quickly looked around and shook his head. “No.” Woohyun groaned. His friend was too oblivious to notice subtle changes. But then again, was he oblivious too because there seemed to be no new wires, no new anything that would probably interfere with his pacemaker. _But it must be something in this area_ , Woohyun concluded.

After exploring the spot on the street for half an hour and finding nothing (not even when Woohyun jumped or rolled on the ground), the two called it a day and went home. But Woohyun’s curiosity was not sated. The next day was Sunday, and so he could devote his whole afternoon to finding the answer. He practically jogged to that patch of street, excited to solve this riddle, but he was disappointed to see that his pacemaker remained still and cold. No matter what he did, whether running or spinning or rubbing up against the wall, it wouldn’t glow like it did the day before. With slumped shoulders and a heavy heart, he went home.

But as he was laying in bed that night, his mind busy trying to work out this new puzzle, Woohyun almost didn’t notice that his chest began to glow again, faintly and weak. He hurriedly looked around his bedroom and out the window. All he could make out in the moonlight was a slim figure walking down the street. The pacemaker’s light went out as soon as that figure turned the corner. Woohyun then slumped back down onto his bed in confusion as he rubbed his chest. Was it possible that whoever made his pacemaker react like this wasn’t a thing but a person? Woohyun shook that ridiculous thought quickly out of his head. That person must have had a pacemaker too or something to that extent.

He placed his head on his pillow and let out a sigh, with his hand still laying on his chest. “Dad, what is this?”

* * *

 

The next day he closed up his store again. He was going to do what he should have done when it first happened: he was going to see Dr. Kim. As he was hanging the “closed” sign on his door, he turned around and yelped in surprise. “Myung! Don’t scare me like that!” he exclaimed, clutching his chest.

“Sorry!” Myungsoo quickly apologized, giving Woohyun a loose hug.

“Forget it,” Woohyun replied, pulling away from his friend. “I was actually about to go to your place. Maybe your dad knows something.”

“Oh about,” he gestured towards his own heart. Woohyun nodded. “But before we do that, can you come with me to the floral shop again? I learned some more French yesterday. I think I know what she said to me.” His eyes widened. “I shouldn’t have said yes to some of those things.”

Woohyun sighed. “Alright, just for five minutes.”

“Thanks hyung!”

* * *

 

They were walking down the street on their way to the pretty florist, and Myungsoo was practicing his speech in French that he had prepared earlier. Woohyun stopped paying attention to that nonsense as he noticed that they were approaching that peculiar spot on the street. And as he stepped within it, he began glowing again. Woohyun cursed, “This didn’t happen yesterday.”

“Hm? You came here yesterday?” Myungsoo asked. But then he excitedly hit Woohyun on the shoulder repeatedly as he pointed to the sign right across of them. “Oh! It must be the bank! It’s closed on Sundays.”

Woohyun stared at the brick building curiously. “It might be,” he mused. Then he felt a slight shove. “Hey!”  
“Hyung! Just go inside and take a look around. What can go wrong?” He had a good point. There was no harm in just browsing. Myungsoo could tell that he had won his friend over. He smiled widely and pushed Woohyun into the bank. “Allons-y!”

“Yah! Do you even know any more French?” Woohyun teased.

“Shit! He has a bomb!”

“Merde,” apparently Myungsoo did know some more French, and apparently it wasn’t so harmless for Woohyun to walk into the bank, especially with a chest lit up like a timed bomb. Within a few seconds, he and Myungsoo were tackled to the ground.

“Howon, don’t be a hero!” some woman cowering behind her desk yelled at her coworker who was now straddling Woohyun and tearing at his clothes. The buttons from his vest and shirt were sent flying into the air.

“Yah!” Woohyun yelled, trying to push off the other and protect his chest. “It’s not a bomb! It’s my heart!”

However, the aggressive banker didn’t believe him until he peeled the shirt away from Woohyun’s chest. “It-it’s not a bomb,” he stammered in shock.

“No shit,” Woohyun retorted, pulling his shirt back over his exposed chest. “Now get off!” He tried to get up again, but he was quickly pinned back down.

“Not so fast. We have a few questions to ask you, Woohyun-ssi,” the man declared and smirked, revealing his sharp canines.

“H-how do you know who I am?”

* * *

 

With his hands handcuffed behind his back, Woohyun was lead into an interrogation room, which was apparently lined with something that blocked out frequencies and magnetic fields because as soon as Woohyun entered and the door was closed, the light in his chest dimmed. “Oh it turned off,” the man apparently named Howon announced. “Why did it do that?”

Woohyun held his shirt closed over his chest. Most of his buttons were still on the lobby floor. “I don’t know. That’s why I came into the bank,” he answered with a shrug.

Howon cocked an eyebrow. “You came into a bank because your chest was glowing?” he challenged.

“My chest glows _because_ of the bank,” Woohyun snapped back.

“But it’s not now.”

“I know!” Woohyun grumbled. “I know.” He closed his eyes and attempted to calm down his anger boiling inside of him. _Getting angry will only worsen the situation._ But Woohyun’s fuse was getting shorter. Not only was _Howon-ssi_ treating him contemptuously, but now he was now closer to solving the mystery of his pacemaker. _What is it? Why is my heart like this?_

“Curious, especially considering your mother’s feelings towards the bank,” Howon said with his cocky smirk.

“Huh?”

“Look. It’s common knowledge that your mother irrationally hates banks. She made a huge scene the last time she was here.” Woohyun swallowed hard, recalling his mother screaming at the tellers and throwing potted plants (the bankers couldn’t understand why she wanted to withdraw everything). It was only a few days after they’d buried his father. She was sensitive. “Obviously,” Howon derailed his thoughts. “She coerced you into doing this. All a part of her master plan of destroying banks everywhere.”

Woohyun snorted. “That’s ridiculous.”

Howon opened his mouth again, but he was halted by a knock at the door. He got up from his chair, walked over to the door, and opened it. “Ah! Sunggyu-ssi, do you have the files?”

“Yes, it’s rather thick, isn’t it?” Woohyun could hear a second voice but  could not see the source. The heavy door was blocking him. Howon and the other man was making idle chatter about the silly file, but Woohyun was too caught up in this familiar feeling, like a warm heat sending sparks across his skin. _Don’t tell me?_ He looked down. His pacemaker was glowing again.

“Yah!” was the only intelligent thing he could imagine saying at the moment. But it worked. Howon turned his attention away from the man and looked at Woohyun. His jaw dropped.

“Y-you’re glowing again!” he exclaimed, pointing at Woohyun. He then turned towards his colleague. “Yah! Leave the room.” The man apparently did because Howon was able to close the door, and the light went out in Woohyun’s pacemaker. Howon opened the door again. “Come back in,” he ushered the other. The light returned to Woohyun’s chest. After making the man cross over (and back) the threshold multiple times, causing Woohyun’s pacemaker to flicker like a lightning storm.  Howon allowed the man to enter the room completely. “It’s you.”

“Me?” the hidden man finally walked away from the cover of the door, and Woohyun could finally see him. He was…a little disappointed. He was expecting someone extraordinary, and possibly part robot. Someone big and impressive enough to cause his pacemaker to act erratically. But this, this Kim Sunggyu was average, all except for his eyes. Those were smaller than average. Woohyun pouted and slumped in his chair. Slowly he looked up again, and their gazes met. “I’m doing that to him?”

“Looks like it,” Howon concluded with his hand on his hips. He then patted Sunggyu’s shoulder. “I’ll leave the paperwork to you then. It looks like this is your problem.” Howon left the room.

Sunggyu fell into the chair, a large pout forming on his face. He narrowed his eyes on the man across from him. “Thanks a lot,” he grumbled.

Woohyun scoffed, “I could say the same.”

The door suddenly opened again. It was Myungsoo and his father. Myungsoo was looking around frantically searching for his friend, and when his eyes landed on Woohyun, he ran over to him, threw his coat over his friend’s chest, and gave him a hug. Woohyun chuckled a little at his friend’s reaction. “I brought my dad. He told them about your situation. You’re cleared to go.” He then pulled away. “Oh, you’re still glowing.”

Woohyun nodded and then looked past his friend to the doctor behind him. “Hey Doc, can we bring this guy with us to get checked out?”

Dr. Kim nodded. “Sure thing.”

“Yah! Who are you calling _guy_? And where do you want me to go? I’m not going to the doctor. No way!” Sunggyu argued, clutching onto his chair, refusing to move.

* * *

 

But they did manage to pull Sunggyu off of the chair after much struggling (and it wasn’t until Myungsoo started tickling him, did Sunggyu let go). And now both of them were shirtless on a sterile table in Dr. Kim’s office. Dr. Kim was listening to their heartbeats and taking notes on them. And Sunggyu was growing exceedingly nervous, if his shaking legs were any indication. Woohyun had to admit that this was an awkward first encounter, but seeing that he was approaching closer to the truth of his pacemaker, he didn’t care much. “Yah! Stop moving. You’re making the whole table shake,” Woohyun spoke the first words to the other since the entered the room.

“I can’t help it. I’m nervous,” the other mumbled, glancing at the clock.

Woohyun followed his eyes. It was almost dinnertime. He had to go back to his mother. “Do you need to go home? Is someone waiting for you?”

Sunggyu shook his head. “No, I live alone,” he spoke, looking down at his still swinging legs. “I just moved here.”

Woohyun chewed on his lower lip. This man was looking sadder, more pitiful with each passing second. Sunggyu obviously had a fear of doctors, and Woohyun forced him right into a doctor’s office and a barge of tests. And now to learn that he was living alone, Woohyun felt worse. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. Sunggyu looked up at him, confused. Woohyun let out a deep breath before continuing. “It’s just that I don’t know why this,” he pointed to his still glowing chest. “is happening. But you’re part of the reason.” Sunggyu nodded and diverted his gaze. “Do you want to come over for dinner?”

Sunggyu snapped his head back towards him. “Huh?”

“As an apology,” Woohyun quickly blurted out. “You just said you were lonely.”

“I said I lived alone, not that I was lonely!”

“You should go,” Dr. Kim interjected. Woohyun blinked. He had forgotten that the doctor was still there. “His mother is the best baker in the city. You won’t regret it,” he ended with a closed lip smile much like his son’s.

“O-okay,” Sunggyu relented.

“Now Sunggyu-ssi, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I need to inspect Woohyun’s pacemaker, and I prefer if it wasn’t glowing,” the doctor joked.

“Yes, sir,” Sunggyu slid off of the table and reached for his shirt.

“Oh, don’t put that on just yet,” Dr. Kim warned. “We still have some tests that we need to run on you.”

“Great,” Sunggyu mumbled as he walked out of the room and was met with a nurse who led him to another examination room.

Once Sunggyu was gone and Woohyun’s chest became normal again, Dr. Kim began examining Woohyun’s pacemaker. “It seems fine. It appears to be made to emit that light, and for a long time too. It has enough energy to do both, so there’s no need to worry,” the doctor concluded after poking around inside of the gadget. As he was closing it back up again, he admitted with a small smile, “Your father was a brilliant man.”

Woohyun blinked in astonishment. “Y-you know what it does?”

“I have my suspicions,” he teased.

Woohyun scooted closer to the edge of the table. “Tell me, Doc!” he begged. “Tell me,” he added a slight whine.

The doctor just laughed and threw a shirt at the other. “Finding out is half the fun,” he joked.

“Aish! No wonder why you two were best friends.”

* * *

 

That night, Sunggyu followed Woohyun home. The other was quite shaken because they made him get a full body scan in this loud and cramped machine. Sunggyu kept complaining about how his ears were still ringing from it, and he became gloomy after hearing that they didn’t put Woohyun through the same torture because of his heart. And Woohyun hoped that his mother’s excellent cooking would be enough to finally put a smile on this man’s face. Woohyun made him frown too much today for his own liking.

When they entered the house and found Woohyun’s mother cooking in the kitchen, Woohyun called out to her (before Sunggyu could realize that she was talking to herself). She turned around with her dulled eyes, but as soon as they fell on her son’s chest, they reflected the glowing light, making them look alive once again. “Oh, sweetie, you’re glowing,” she spoke in a monotone voice.

“Eung, and I brought a friend. Mom, this is Kim Sunggyu. He makes me glow,” he said cheerfully, hoping that his mother would adopt a cheery demeanor as well.

“Um, hello, m’am,” Sunggyu greeted her with a deep bow. And as he pulled himself back up straight, Woohyun saw something grace his mother’s face that he hadn’t seen in ages.

“It’s good to meet you, Sunggyu,” her voice even sounded lighter. “Please take a seat. Dinner will be ready in a bit.”

The dinner was delicious like Woohyun had expected it to be, but he didn’t expect the conversation to be so lively and jovial. His mother smiled and laughed and didn’t act as if she’d been living with a ghost for years. Woohyun’s chest grew as warm as it looked. And even Sunggyu smiled too. Woohyun liked it. He wished that the other would smile more. But somewhere in the evening, Woohyun realized how his mother managed to be so happy. Sunggyu was sitting where his father used to, filling in the seat that been empty for so long. Their table was complete.

And Woohyun was tempted to invite Sunggyu over for every meal; it made his mother happy.

* * *

 

But he didn’t, and because he had closed up shop for a whole day, Woohyun was holed up in his shop for the next few days, doing repairs. Sunggyu, he assumed, continued to work at the bank. And life went back on track, for the most part. But everytime Woohyun found a little roll of bills that his mother had stuffed in a crevice in his shop, he wondered what the banker was doing, if he was eating well, where he was. He was tempted to use his chest as a radar to find the other, but Woohyun held himself back. He had already put the other through enough strange things to last the other a lifetime. Sunggyu wasn’t used to being a human guinea pig like Woohyun was.

And so one slow afternoon, Woohyun was surprised when he felt his chest heat up and tingle. He looked down. He was glowing again. Sunggyu was close. He immediately put down the radio he was working on and rushed to the window, seeing if he could catch a glimpse of the man. His eyes scanned the street, but Sunggyu was nowhere in sight. Woohyun decided that he must’ve had a blind spot from the window, and so he went outside to see if he could see better. But he still couldn’t find Sunggyu. He looked down again. “No. No!” The light was growing dim. He must have just missed the other. Woohyun slumped down onto the stairs leading to his shop. With his elbows resting on his knees, his chin was fixed to his chest, watching the light dim into nothing. He then sighed when it went entirely out. A part of him felt silly, being so excited to see the man who he met just a few days before. _But he has this effect on me_ , Woohyun thought as he rubbed his chest. _I want to know why_.

But then the tips of his fingers began to glow pink. Woohyun quickly removed his hand and saw that he was glowing again. Sunggyu’s back. He quickly stood up and looked down the street, his head darting back and forth until he saw him. Sunggyu was walking, clutching a bag from his mother’s bakery and stuffing a powered sweet into his mouth. Woohyun waved and called out to him, “Sunggyu-ssi!”

Sunggyu was startled and quickly swallowed the food in his mouth as he approached Woohyun’s steps. “Woohyun-ssi,” he coughed out after inhaling too much of the powdered sugar. “I just came back from your mother’s shop.”

“I can see that,” Woohyun replied, resting on the iron handrail for his stairs.

“She didn’t seem to remember me though,” Sunggyu remarked sadly, wiping the crumbs and sugar dust from his face. “Honestly, she seemed out of it. Is she doing okay?”

Woohyun bit his lip, wondering how much to divulge to this almost stranger. “No different from normal,” he answered, tapping his fingers on the railing nervously. “Last time, you found her in a cheery mood. Normally she’s…”

“Depressed?” Sunggyu filled in the blank. Woohyun hung his head and nodded. Sunggyu then cleared his throat, realizing how tense things were getting. He changed the subject, “I was also trying to find you. But I didn’t know that you had your own shop.”

Woohyun lifted his head and a charming smile appeared across his face. “Do you want to come in and see it?”

“Sure.”

Apparently Sunggyu had never been in a repair shop before. He was impressed by the mass of gadgets and such littering the store. He was fascinated by Woohyun’s tools that could fix such things. Woohyun thought him to be like a kid walking through a candy store for the first time. Sunggyu’s eyes lit up at everything he saw. And his curious hands touched everything within reach (which Woohyun had to slap away on more than one occasion).

“So you said that you were trying to find me?” Woohyun asked as he pulled Sunggyu away from a faulty radiator. Sunggyu nodded. “Why?”

“I was curious,” he said in a distracted voice as he examined a toy train. “Did you ever figure out why it does that?” He finally looked up at Woohyun and nodded towards his glowing chest.

“No, but I’m starting to think it’s a Sunggyu detector,” Woohyun joked. “It always knows when you’re around.”

Sunggyu put down the train and side-eyed Woohyun. “It doesn’t light up for anybody else?”

“Not that I know of,” Woohyun replied. Then he saw a quick and big smile flash across Sunggyu’s face. “Hul! You like it,” Woohyun jeered at the other.

“No I don’t,” Sunggyu blubbered, pretending to find something interesting on the other side of the room. But he couldn’t hide from Woohyun who was following him, and he also couldn’t hide his smile which was growing larger.

“Yea, you do! You’re beaming,” Woohyun teased, poking the other in the cheek.

Sunggyu slapped Woohyun’s hand away and pointed to Woohyun’s chest. “Well, you’re glowing,” he argued.

Woohyun blushed and put his hand over his heart, clutching it. “I know. I wish it would stop,” he muttered under his breath.

Sunggyu looked him up and down with an odd expression. “Well…in that case. I guess I’ll see you around,” he suddenly announced and made his way to the door.

“Sunggyu-ssi! I didn’t mean …” but it was too late. The door closed behind Sunggyu, and Woohyun’s light began to dim again. Woohyun sat down on his stool at his workbench, flicking the screwdriver in front of him in circles. He didn’t know what he’d said wrong. He didn’t mean for the other to leave. He just wanted to stop glowing. Woohyun let out a groan and hung his head. And that’s when he realized that he hadn’t stopped glowing, and the bell on his shop door rang.

“I left something,” Sunggyu spoke sheepishly, reaching for the bag of baked goods.

But Woohyun grabbed them first and placed them out of the other’s reach, earning a very annoyed glance from the other. “Sunggyu-ssi, you can stay,” Woohyun said carefully, putting the bag down. “I don’t mind.”

Sunggyu sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know it can’t be easy for you to be with me. It’s okay,” he explained. He then stared down at his feet and softly spoke, “I…I don’t want to mess up your heart.”

Woohyun chuckled, causing the other to snap his head up again. “It’s already messed up,” Woohyun said between chuckles. “I already died once. And if that taught me anything, it’s to appreciate the moment, right now.” He then leaned across the work bench and brought his face closer to Sunggyu. “And right now, I want to spend it with you.”

Sunggyu retched and pushed the other’s face away. “Keep saying stuff like that, and I’m really out of here,” he declared. And Woohyun quickly pursed his lips and made a gesture, pretending to lock them shut. Sunggyu laughed, but then something on the bench caught his eye. “Oh, what’s this?”

They passed the rest of the afternoon casually talking as Woohyun fixed various gadgets. Every so often, he would have to answer Sunggyu’s questions about what something did or how it worked. And Woohyun was impressed by how quickly the other absorbed information. Soon Sunggyu was using the technical vocabulary Woohyun often spoke in, and asking more specific questions, referring to certain valves and circuits.

But Woohyun had some questions of his own, not about banking though (that topic bored him). His were of a more personal nature. And after Sunggyu had talked so gently about his parents and sister, Woohyun found himself asking, “Why did you move?” Sunggyu put down the wrench he was playing with and tilted his head. “I mean, you seem to actually like your family. They’re not weird and strange like mine. So why did you leave?”

“Because,” Sunggyu began slowly, either fighting to find appropriate words or fighting with himself, wondering how much he should reveal to the other. “I felt…average there, and I didn’t want to be. I wanted to stand out, become something. So I moved to a city with a larger population and became a banker.” He laughed sadly at the irony of it all. “I’m fading even more,” he said with a great sigh. He then shly glanced up at Woohyun. “I never felt like I was special…until now.”

Woohyun looked down and pointed to his radiating pacemaker. “Because of this?” Sunggyu nodded. “Because of me?”

Sunggyu ignored the last question and leaned forward. His eyes did not leave the pacemaker. “This is weird, isn’t it?” he whispered like it was a secret. “Why does it do that?”

Woohyun was starting to feel uncomfortable under the other’s intense gaze. His hand flew to cover the pacemaker. “I don’t know,” he whispered.

Sunggyu inched closer. “Does it hurt?”

“No.”

“Does it feel hot?”

Woohyun rubbed his chest. “No, not really,” he answered. “Just warm.”

Sunggyu’s eyes finally left the pacemaker and met with Woohyun’s. “Can I see it?” he plead, his eyes shining with curiosity. Woohyun wondered if he looked like that too whenever curiosity overtook him. So Woohyun indulged him and unbuttoned his vest and shirt. He then pulled it to the side, revealing the ugly brass hunk that had been attached to his chest. And it was even uglier now, since his own skin had fastened itself to the metal and growing over it slightly. Now it was so assimilated into his body, it was nearly impossible to remove. But as ugly as it was (and perhaps it was made prettier because it was glowing and blurring out its imperfections), Sunggyu still looked upon it with such wonder and amazement. And like with everything else in the shop, his hand started to slowly come closer to it. His fingers were as curious as his eyes. But Sunggyu stopped it about an inch or two from Woohyun’s skin. He looked up at Woohyun. “Can I touch it?” he asked. Woohyun nodded. And Sunggyu’s cold fingertips made contact with his warm skin and brass.

But then Woohyun felt a spark fly, and Sunggyu immediately retracted his hand and stared at his fingertips. Woohyun placed his hands on the other’s forearms, rubbing them gently. “What happened?”  he whispered, searching Sunggyu for some sign of a feeling other than being stunned.

“Weird,” Sunggyu murmured. “This is really weird, isn’t it?” he looked up at Woohyun and spoke more loudly. But Woohyun didn’t respond. Sunggyu then grabbed his bag and headed towards the door.  “I’m leaving. It’s late.”

But to Woohyun it didn’t feel weird. It almost felt…natural.

* * *

 

A week went by, and Woohyun hadn’t seen Sunggyu. That’s not to say that he didn’t glow, though. Woohyun passed his bank several times, and Sunggyu apparently passed his shop too probably on his way to the bakery (and Sunggyu must have had a major sweet tooth because he was visiting the bakery almost daily). And so Woohyun had opportunities to go and find the other, but he thought, given how the other left, that it would be better if Sunggyu approached him first.

But Sunggyu’s last words had haunted him: “This is really weird.” Was the situation weird? Woohyun’s pacemaker? Or just Woohyun? Maybe Woohyun was eccentric just like his parents. He had tried so hard to be normal, but those efforts seem to be in vain. Fruits born from crooked roots are not well, apparently.

Myungsoo eventually visited him and asked about Sunggyu. Apparently, he had been able to wheedle out the purpose of the device from his father, but he refused to tell his friend. “This isn’t the type of thing you tell people. They have to find out for themselves. It’s better that way,” he stumbled to that conclusion.

“You’re just like our dads,” Woohyun scoffed. “Finding out is half the fun,” he mimicked with a sneer.

Myungsoo shook his head. “I didn’t say it was more fun. I said it was better.” Woohyun gave him a look, willing him to elaborate more on that point, but Myungsoo waved his hand and changed the subject. “Don’t worry about Sunggyu. He’ll come back. But did I tell you about the pretty florist? We actually talked today. Like a real conversation. And she told me her name too! It’s…”

Woohyun half-paid attention to his friend’s excited rambling. The other half of him was curious. How did he know that Sunggyu would come back? Why didn’t Myungsoo think that Woohyun was being a little obsessive about Sunggyu (because Woohyun sure felt that way sometimes)? Why didn’t he think this was a problem? And how did he know that he’d seen Sunggyu after their first meeting?

Woohyun dropped the brass plate that he’d been polishing. The cogs in his brain were finally meshing. He suddenly recalled the tests that Dr. Kim had run on Woohyun and Sunggyu. It wasn’t surprising that the doctor was concerned with Woohyun’s heart, but the doctor was also trying to figure out Sunggyu’s heartbeat and the frequency his body emitted. Woohyun had been right initially. His pacemaker was reacting to some sort of frequency or magnetic field, but not emanating from a coil or a wire, but from a person’s heart. And Sunggyu had just the right one to make Woohyun’s pacemaker go haywire.

Woohyun leaned against the work bench and rubbed his hands down his face. “No wonder why it felt so natural. Ugh! I can’t believe my dad made something like this!”

“Oh, did you figure it out?” Myungsoo guessed. “I told you that it was better for you to figure it out. I can’t just tell you that you’re supposed to be in love with someone. That’s weird.”

Woohyun let out a strangled laugh. “Yea, really weird.”

Myungsoo started to play with a receipt that was laying on the table. “I think it’s sweet,” he mused. And Woohyun watched his friend carefully fold the paper. “Your dad must’ve known that he’d end up in some _incident_. You know, given that he wasn’t exactly the safest person. He wanted to set you up. Help you find love. He was a good dad.”

Woohyun cocked his head. “I guess so…”

“Sunggyu will come back. He has to,” Myungsoo said as he got up from his stool. “But I have to go. I have a date. And this,” he showed Woohyun the little paper crane that he had just made, “can be _your_ date for the night,” he ended with a chuckle. “Be nice to him.” And then he went out the door with a spring in his step.

After he left, Woohyun collapsed onto the table. His nose almost met with the beak of the crane. He stroked the neck carefully with the tips of his fingers. “What am I going to do with you, Gyu?” he murmured. The bell on his door rang. “Yah! Kim Myungsoo! You can’t take my date. I won’t let you!”

“You have a date?” Sunggyu’s voice was weak, and he was hunched over as he entered the shop. He was nervous.

Woohyun straightened up and looked down. He must have not noticed that he was glowing earlier because his head was rest on the table. “Oh yea,” Woohyun choked out. His throat felt tight. He quickly cleared it. He put the crane in his palm and displayed it to Sunggyu. “Meet my date. Myungsoo made it for me.”

Sunggyu chuckled, and some of the tension lifted from the room. “With all this tech in here, I would think that you could build a better date,” he joked.

“Yea, but nothing compares to the real thing,” he blurted out and immediately wish that he could take back those words. _How to tell someone that he’s supposed to love you without sounding crazy?_ Myungsoo was right. It’s better not knowing from the onset. In this case, finding out was the fun of it. Woohyun had already discovered it. _And how to make Sunggyu see it too?_

While his head was whirring with these thoughts, Sunggyu sat down right across from him. “Did you not get that fixed?” Sunggyu said, pointing at Woohyun’s pacemaker. The banker then picked up a screwdriver and pointed it against Woohyun’s heart. “Should I fix it for you?” he teased, gently screwing the head of the driver into the fibers of his vest.

“I think you already have,” Woohyun confessed. And it was true. All the pain and scars Woohyun held in his heart seemed to heal in the other’s warm presence. He didn’t even know how alone he felt until Sunggyu came along. And now it didn’t feel right without him. There was still that empty seat at their dinner table.

“Huh? How?” Sunggyu blubbered, retracting the screwdriver from the other. He inched closer and for just a second, his gaze fell from Woohyun’s and onto his lips. “Woohyun-ssi…”

Woohyun took this opportunity and leaned in, planting a short but soft kiss on the other’s lips. It was so brief that it felt like nothing more than a warm breeze. Woohyun smiled at seeing the other’s delightfully stunned expression. “By being you. By being my special someone.”

And either it didn’t take that much convincing to make Sunggyu see that they were supposed to be lovers, or perhaps he knew it all along because Sunggyu was quick to return the affection. His hand reached for Woohyun’s glowing heart, pulling him closer, and he kissed Woohyun back. It lasted longer than the one before but not by much. “Thanks for making me feel special.”

Woohyun chuckled and picked up the paper crane. “Sorry, buddy. It looks like I have a real date now,” he apologized and tossed the fake bird over his shoulder.

“You’re weird,” Sunggyu snorted, and Woohyun froze. But Sunggyu just smiled and rubbed his thumb along the other’s cheek. “But I like it.”

This time Woohyun didn’t hold himself back. He kissed Sunggyu with all the passion his weak heart could muster, and the other responded with just as much force and with his hand still holding the vest tightly right over the glowing light. They weren’t about to let each other go again.

* * *

 

And eventually, Woohyun did stop glowing. It was two weeks later, when Sunggyu had whispered in his ear for the first time, “I love you.” And Sunggyu almost had a heart attack of his own, thinking that he had broken Woohyun’s pacemaker…and Woohyun may have been playing dead for a bit to make Sunggyu think that way. But even in spite of that, Sunggyu still remained by his side and was a permanent fixture at their dinner table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompt: You live in a world when your chest glows when you found your soul mate.


	2. Glow take 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is using the same prompt, but it's closer to the comic given: http://9gag.com/gag/aMbA936
> 
> And I actually posted this earlier, but I also wanted to join it with the other one. Which one do you like better?

Woohyun slumped onto the floor. They had just been practicing their dance for 4 hours. Every free moment they had, even after almost five years, was still dedicated to perfecting their dance moves.  All a part of the 100% sync that they were eternally striving after. But at least today they could take it a little easier, have a little fun. They were preparing for an open concert sponsored by some company or other. And they had mastered the  dance weeks before. Woohyun preferred practices like these than the suffocating, tense ones before a comeback.

However, days like these he hated. He was melancholic. One of those days that no matter what he did, no matter what anyone did, he couldn’t smile. Why? Woohyun’s eyes darted around the room. Dongwoo was taking advantage of their short break and calling his girlfriend.  _But is girlfriend really the right title?_ No, she was his soul mate.

Woohyun and the rest lived in a world where whenever one met a soul mate, their chest would glow. A few seconds later, their soul mate’s chest will glow. Their eyes meet. They fall in love. And the rest is pretty self-explanatory: they have a happy ending.

And it wasn’t just Dongwoo. Hoya and Sungjong were on their phones as well, chatting away. Hoya was lucky, he had met his soul mate when he was 5, and they could practically spend their entire lives together. Woohyun had never seen the normally tense Hoya so at ease with someone; it was like he’d remember how to breath every time they talked. Dongwoo, however, was still in the initial phases of his relationship. He met his during their summer concerts. Right as his chest glowed and saw the girl glowing from the back rows, he leapt off the stage and ran to her, taking her into his arms. And it was the first time the body guards had to peel one of the members off of a fan (and not the other way around), reminding him that he still had a concert to finish. Sungjong’s, however, had a unique start. Sometimes there was a delay. After spending three years by his soul mate’s side, both of their chests glowed during graduation, while saying goodbye. When Woohyun asked why that might’ve been, Sungjong just shrugged and answered, “I don’t know. I guess we were just ready for it.”

The other three weren’t on their phones, but that didn’t mean they were in the same situation as Woohyun. Sungyeol’s chest lately had been lighting up, but only for a short moment. It would be a short burst of light, but long enough for Sungyeol to go bat-shit crazy and run up and down the street asking at the top of his lungs if anyone had been glowing. Each time, it was a near miss, but he was getting closer. His chest was starting to glow for longer spurts now. He was more excited than peeved. His soul mate was just around the corner.

And then there was Myungsoo, nice, sweet, and incredibly spacey Myungsoo. All of the members joked that he probably glowed before, but failed to notice it, too busy blankly staring off into the distance. Even now, that’s what the visual was doing. He sat on the floor, just staring. Occasionally he would laugh at something or make a remark, but then return to the staring. However, that was usual for him, especially after concentrating for so long like at dance practices. And so it would be unsurprising if Myungsoo had missed his soul mate a couple of times, but the thing about soul mates is that they always come back. So he was okay.

Then Woohyun’s eyes drifted over to their leader, Sunggyu. He was busy draining his bottle of water and fanning the shirt that was sticking to his sweaty body. He said that he’d met his soul mate too, 3 years ago when he went home for the holidays. She worked at the convenience store, and he was buying a snack. It wasn’t the most romantic of settings, nor was what happened afterwards. They exchanged information and went their separate ways. “What’s the point?” Sunggyu argued one night when Woohyun in a fit of jealous, confronted him about not being closer to her. “We have the rest of our lives to be together. We just need a few years to grow into our own people. I don’t want to be like Hoya and Shiwon, like one unit. Besides, she’s my soul mate. She understands!”

Woohyun frowned and hit his head on the wall behind him. He was (practically) the only single one in the band, and he felt like the only one in the world who hadn’t met his love yet. Too make matters worse, Saeron, his costar 10 years younger than him, just glowed this afternoon while they were on set, shining brightly for the delivery boy with boxes of chicken in his hands. Every single f***ing person was in love except for him (and Myungsoo, but he didn’t really count).

But just because he hadn’t found his soul mate yet, didn’t mean Woohyun had never been in love before. His eyes scanned carefully the man in front of him. Even like this, even with sweat pouring out of his body in streams, even with that odd hairstyle picked out for their concept, Woohyun could feel his heart beating faster. His chest was growing warm. White hot, with its heat radiating slowly down his limbs.  _Wait, this normally doesn’t_ …Woohyun looked down.

He was glowing.

Woohyun, not knowing what to do, panicked. He grabbed his sweatshirt, clutching it to his chest, attempting to smother out the quickly brightening light. His head was on a swivel as he desperately searched the room, looking for his partner, his love, his destiny. The rookies had just filtered in, preparing to watch their sunbaes and learn from their example. Could one of those girls? They were cute, talented (Woohyun was sure), but dull. Not a single one shined. His eyes even flickered over to their manager. He’d always treated Woohyun well. But he too was normal. Finally, with hope, Woohyun looked directly across from him, and it was like Sunggyu knew something was up. The leader stared at him and cocked his eyebrow, setting the water bottle down. But just as the bottle hit the ground, it was reflecting. Woohyun gasped and slowly dragged his eyes upwards. Life moved in slow motion. But then he saw it.

Sunggyu was glowing too.

“You f***ing liar,” Woohyun said with a wide grin, pulling apart his face.

“Aw shit! You’ve got to be kidding!” Sunggyu realized too late, and turned around, squatting on the floor, hiding his chest. Woohyun chuckled and stood up. “Go away! Nothing happened! Go!”

“What do you mean ‘nothing’? Hyung, you’re glowing!” Woohyun was now walking over to him.

“No, I’m not. Yah! Don’t touch me!” Sunggyu yelled and jumped up, darting to the other side of the room and seeking refuge behind an utterly confused Dongwoo. Woohyun chased after him and continued to chase after him when Sunggyu realized Dongwoo wasn’t a good enough barrier and hid behind Hoya. Hoya, who was really entertained and recounting everything to Shiwon, just stepped aside and allowed Woohyun to finally catch up with Sunggyu.

“Why are you running, hyung?” Woohyun teased, wrapping his arms around the squirming leader, pinning the elder’s arms to his sides. “You should be falling instead.”

“Don’t say it. Just don’t say it.”

“Falling in love with me,” Woohyun finished with a thick voice, planting a kiss on Sunggyu’s cheek.

Sunggyu just looked up at the ceiling and shook his head. “Why? What did I do to deserve this? Why?”

From across the room, Myungsoo snapped out of his reverie and nudged Sungyeol in the rib, holding out his hand. Sungyeol groaned and pulled out his wallet, dispensing bill after bill into Myungsoo’s hand. “Aish! I can’t believe it. You were right,” he spat. He then shook his head. “I wonder why it took so long.”

Myungsoo shrugged as he counted the bills, making sure his mischievous friend wasn’t cheating him. “I don’t know. It’s probably just the right time,” he mumbled in a distracted voice. But then he suddenly stopped. Something had caught his eye. “Oh! I’m glowing.”

(Don’t worry guys. Sunggyu eventually came around and here’s the proof: <http://puella-bona.tumblr.com/post/98389560891/artemania126-woogyuland-140925-hoseo>)

 


	3. Glow take 2: Part 2?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sungyeol is close to finding his soul mate, but he doesn't know how close his love actually is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a few people request this, and I wanted to try my hand at this couple again.

Sungyeol remembers the first time he glowed. Every single detail of that moment is seared into his mind, and he unconsciously replays it every-so-often. It quickly becomes a reoccurring nightmare.

He was with Myungsoo and Sungjong in Japan, filming for their music video. Sungyeol was already a bundle of raw nerves. He would think that after 4 years, music videos would become routine, but this wasn’t an ordinary shoot. It was for their new sub-unit. A sub-unit formed with the members mainly praised for their looks and not talents. And for that reason, Sungyeol felt pressured. Pressured to prove himself to the faceless mass of netizens ready to tear him apart for the slightest misstep. But he wasn’t going to let them. He was going to be perfect.

If only if his leg would stop shaking. That would help a lot.

Myungsoo, who was sitting next to him and was also getting his make-up done, put a hand on Sungyeol’s restless knee. Sungyeol looked at the other out of the corner of his eye (he was too afraid to do anything more lest the make-up artist chastise him for moving). The corners of Myungsoo’s mouth picked up into his usual tight-lipped smile before he closed his eyes and apparently fell asleep in the chair.

“Stop smiling,” the make-up artist warned as she painted Sungyeol’s lips with a thick gloss. Sungyeol grimaced at the waxy feeling of it. There are some things about this job that he’ll never get used to. “Stop frowning.”

“Aish! You want me to stop breathing next?” Sungyeol joked. The woman smiled and laughed, shaking her head at the idol. His chest finally felt looser; his nerves were growing calm. However, he still felt hot, and quite possibly getting warmer. His chest tingled, as if it was being tickled by a flame. _What the_ —Sungyeol looked down. He was glowing.

He immediately jumped out of his chair, causing the make-up artist to draw a red line across his cheek. But he ignored her yells and curses; he ignored Sungjong who he had accidentally pushed onto the floor. Sungyeol was wholly concentrated on finding the girl that glowed like him. _And in Japan! Who would’ve thought?!_ His mind and heart was racing. His feet padded loudly on the pavement as he ran down the street outside of the salon. She’s here. She’s finally here. Sungyeol had no idea how long he’d been waiting for this moment until it finally happened. And things felt like they were falling into place.

But then it all fell apart. Sungyeol had to stop at the crosswalk. The light was red, taunting him _. It ends here_. Sungyeol looked down. His chest was cold and normal. “F***ing shit!” Sungyeol cursed. Several heads turned towards him, and girls gasped. Sungyeol winced. Fangirls, they probably had followed him out here.

Sungyeol’s eyes snapped open, and he whipped himself around. The gaggle of girls (and a few boys) yelped slightly at the firey look in his eyes. “Did any of you glow?” he demanded.

The group of fans began to murmur to each other. “Was Sungyeol-ssi glowing?” “I don’t know. I was just following you. I couldn’t see him.” “I think he was, but Sungyeol-oppa always shines.” “I didn’t see him glowing, but I have his shoe!”

“Give that back!” Sungyeol growled as he tore the shoe away from Korean girl in long pigtail braids. He hadn’t even noticed that it had fallen off in his pursuit.

“HYUNG!” Sungjong was running down the street towards Sungyeol and was closely followed by one of their managers and Myungsoo. “What do you think you’re doing?” He made his way passed the fans and went up to Sungyeol’s side. “You have to think of our image. You can’t just run off,” he whispered into the other’s ear.

Sungyeol sighed, not in the mood to be chastised by the maknae. “I was glowing.”

Sungjong’s eyes widened. “What?!” he exclaimed. He then looked down at Sungyeol’s chest and then about them. “But where’s—“

“Gone. I couldn’t find her,” Sungyeol answered curtly. He pushed his way through the fans and back to the salon.

“Yeol…” Myungsoo began, watching his friend carefully with his black eyes.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Sungyeol hissed as he brushed past Myungsoo. He hated acting so cold towards Myungsoo, but he was one of the few people who could handle Sungyeol’s unpredictable temperaments. And one of the very few who will drop a subject when asked. Myungsoo just walked back with Sungyeol  with a hand on the other’s shoulder, a small comfort after a wave of disappointment.

* * *

 

Later, Sungyeol was plagued with  “What ifs?” What if he had stayed in the salon? Was she there? What if he ran in the other direction? Would he have met her? What if he was just one step quicker, on second faster? If he had just been able to cross that street in time…

But then it happened again in Korea, when he was walking into a broadcast station for a music show, and then again when he and Myungsoo had snuck out to eat ganjanggejang. That time he and Myungsoo had split up in pursuit of Sungyeol soul mate. But even with the new strategy, they still failed.

“Have you ever thought,” Myungsoo asked as he was panting. The two of them collapsed on a park bench after running around the area, looking for a glowing girl. “That it might not be a girl?”

“What do you mean?” Sungyeol asked. He tore off his hat and was wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. “My soul mate?” Myungsoo nodded as he looked away, probably still looking for someone glowing for his friend. “Why should I? Shouldn’t it be a girl?”

“Well, we keep looking for a girl, but we can’t find one,” Myungsoo answered coolly. His dark eyes flitted back to his friend. “Maybe it’s a guy.”

Sungyeol swallowed hard. “N-no. I don’t think so,” he stammered out an answer.

“Would it really be that bad?”

Sungyeol turned to face his friend and studied his face. Myungsoo was hard to read when he wanted to be. Normally, the visual was an open book, wearing his heart on his sleeves, but sometimes, he would close the book shut and stare with a hardened, blank gaze. He became L. And Sungyeol hated every time the other would stare at him like that. They were friends, close friends. And close friends shouldn’t hide things (especially friends of Sungyeol. He absolutely hated when others hid things from him, when he was the last to know).

Sungyeol lightly shoved the other, breaking Myungsoo’s shell and bringing a small smile to his face. “Of course not. That would be fine, after all it’s my soul mate,” he spoke in a happier tone. “But,” he chewed on his lower lip before continuing. “I just have this feeling, you know? I’m _sure_ it’s a girl.”

“I have a feeling too,” Myungsoo declared. “About mine,” he finished with a shy smile.

“And?” Sungyeol challenged, raising an eyebrow. Myungsoo just looked at him, grinning cheekily. “What is it?” Sungyeol tried again to get an answer from the other.

Myungsoo suddenly stood up and faced the other. “It’s a person,” he announced and then broke out into an innocent chuckle, laughing at his own joke as he walked away.

“This kid,” Sungyeol hissed watching Myungsoo’s silhouette, lit up by the lamplights against the dark of night, walk away from him. But then Sungyeol blinked a couple of times at a new realization. “Y-yah! Does this happen with animals too? What if my soul mate’s a monkey?” Sungyeol quickly got up and chased after his friend.

“Didn’t you always want to be the Monkey King (Goku)?”

“Yea, but not like this.”

* * *

 

“Myung…soo. Yah! Asleep already?” Sungyeol scoffed, kicking the feet of his friend who had fallen asleep, and on the floor of his bedroom. It looked as if the visual did not have enough energy to climb up onto his bed, but after surveying the scene for a few seconds, Sungyeol quickly found the truth. A camera was lightly held in Myungsoo’s hand, and there were some photos spread out on the ground. “Making another photobook?” he asked his dozing friend. He knew Myungsoo wouldn’t answer; he slept like the dead. Sungyeol laughed softly, seeing Myungsoo smack his lips in his sleep, and he took that as an answer. The elder squatted down an sifted through some of the disorderly photos. “You know, you have more members than just Sungjong? Why do you always—Whoa!” Sungyeol yelped after coming across a photo that he wanted to immediately erase from his memory. With his eyes tightly shut, he reprimanded Myungsoo, “Yah! What the Hell do you have a naked picture of Dongwoo-hyung? Why the Hell did you even take it? Aish!” He rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe the image away. “You scarred me for life.”

“Yeol?”

Sungyeol opened his eyes again and turned his neck. Myungsoo was looking at him with heavily lidded eyes. His fingers began twitching and wrapping around his camera. Sungyeol felt like a deer caught in the headlights, frozen. Dongwoo’s picture slipped through his fingertips. He knew, deep down, Myungsoo wouldn’t mind (he was always so eager to show others his photos, to show others the world as he saw it), but why did it seem wrong? Why did it seem invasive?

Sungyeol swallowed down the lump in his throat. “H-hey doofus,” he croaked. “Why aren’t you sleeping in your bed?”

“Bed?” Apparently, Myungsoo wasn’t quite awake yet.

Sungyeol smiled and waddled up to the other. “Let’s get you into bed. Come on,” he urged, hooking his arms underneath Myungsoo’s shoulders. Myungsoo contributed little effort into crawling unto his bed; Sungyeol basically dragged him all the way up there on his own, the other being like dead weight in his arms. In spite of that, only groans fell from Sungyeol lips and no curses at the other. He was well aware why Myungsoo was tired. Like himself, Myungsoo was also filming a drama, but unlike Sungyeol’s, Myungsoo had to film two episode’s worth of material every week. And it was the biggest role the other had to date, a second male lead going up against much-loved Krystal and their senior Rain. It would only be natural to this exhausted. Too tired to wash up properly or even get into bed which was only a few inches away.

After Myungsoo was in bed and Sungyeol haphazardly threw a blanket on him, Sungyeol gazed down at him and sighed. That blonde hair, he wasn’t quite used to it yet, and it somehow made Myungsoo look younger and more cheerful instead of edgier like it was supposed to. But it was already growing out; the dark roots were peeking out behind the bleached ends. Sungyeol then pat the other on the head as he gently removed the camera from his hand. “Night Myung.” He began to make his way out of the bedroom.

“Yeol…night,” the Myungsoo garbled. Sungyeol gave the other one last glance before closing the door. But he froze. His hand gripped the doorknob tightly.

Myungsoo was glowing, dimly, but still.

“So he does glow,” Sungyeol whispered in shock. All of the members had mocked the visual, saying that he was so spacey that he wouldn’t even be aware of when he was glowing. And here Sungyeol was here to witness it.

His first instinct was too look down at his own chest. Nothing. He then let out a deep breath and shook his head. Knowing how obsessive Myungsoo could get, his soul mate would probably be the same. She’d probably be a sasaeng fan, following the other around everywhere like a shadow. And that’s probably why Myungsoo was glowing so faintly. She was probably outside of their buildings, several floors down.

Sungyeol looked at the sleeping visual again. Myungsoo’s chest was already back to normal. Sungyeol  will have to tell the other about his theory in the morning, but for now, Myungsoo needed his sleep. And like Sunggyu always said, “Soul mates can wait. They’ll always be there. So take care of yourself first.”

But Sungyeol couldn’t wait. He wasn’t exactly known for his patience anyways. He grabbed his coat and hat and went out the door.

Without the members knowing, Sungyeol recently had been sneaking out at night in search for his. He was close. He was glowing brighter and for longer spurts. Even his heart seemed to realize this. Instead of the excited, nervous fluttering, his heart just grew warm whenever he glowed. It was a comforting warmth, like being wrapped in a cashmere blanket.

In fact it was how he was feeling right now. Sungyeol unzipped his coat a bit, and light spilled out. “Yes!” he cheered and began jumping up and down in the elevator. He quickly stopped, noting how the whole elevator was shaking. He tried hard to calm himself down as he zipped up his coat, but he couldn’t smother the light burning bright underneath it. “This…this is it.”

Right as the elevator doors opened, he dashed across the lobby and out of the doors. “This is it!” he repeated. A broad grin was spreading across his face.

“Oppa! Lee Sungyeol!” a sweet voice called out to him. Sungyeol quickly turned around to see that girl who had picked up his shoe in Japan. She even still had the braids, still had that goofy naive smile. Sungyeol snorted, wondering if this was some sort of reverse Cinderella story, with his soul mate finding the lost shoe of an idol prince. But there was only one problem: she wasn’t glowing.

Once Sungyeol had faced her, the girl jumped up and began searching through her pockets. “Wait, wait. Just a second,” she begged. She then giggled as she pulled out a remote from her pocket. She pressed the button on it, and her shirt lit up behind her jacket. “Jjang!” she announced proudly.

 Sungyeol scoffed and rolled his eyes at her. “Do you think I’m a f***ing idiot?”

“Nope,” the girl answered. She put her arms behind her back, hiding the remote, as she rocked back and forth on her heels, trying to be cute. “I think that you’re my soul mate. Look,” she pointed to her chest and then his. “We’re both glowing!”

“I’m glowing. You’re not,” Sungyeol argued, crossing his arms over his chest. The fan began to pout and gasped at the accusation. Sungyeol uncrossed his arms and stomped up to her, bringing his face closer to hers. She couldn’t fight the smile forming on her face. Sungyeol groaned and yelled, “I saw you press a f***ing button!”

The fan shook her head and lied, “No I didn’t.” Sungyeol reached behind her and quickly grabbed the remote from her hands. He showed it to her. She laughed sheepishly and bit her lower lip. “Okay, I did,” she confessed looking down at her feet. “But does it really matter?”

“Does what matter?”

The fan raised her head and looked Sungyeol defiantly in his eyes. “Oppa, I like you. Do we _have_ to be soul mates in order to be in love?” she challenged.

Sungyeol was taken aback, literally. He took a step back and looked at the girl again from head-to-toe.  He had to admire her tenacity and audaciousness (to be honest, he was impressed and surprised that he hadn’t seen Woohyun trying to pull off a trick like this. That kid was just as desperate). But then he looked down at his chest. The light was gone, whereas the girl was glowing brightly with false light. Sungyeol shook his head. _She wasn’t it._ “No, but why would I want _you_ when I’m obviously close to mine?”

“Eh,” the girl spat, stomping her foot. “Soul mates aren’t all what they are cracked out to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“I met mine,” the fan curtly replied, shocking the idol. “He’s…alright,” she remarked with a shrug, but then she looked up at Sungyeol with her eyes sparkling. “But he’s no you.”

“You met yours?!” Sungyeol repeated in disbelief. _This girl is insane_.

“Yea.”

How is it that this sasaeng had found hers and not even care? Sungyeol couldn’t believe it. But… _maybe this soul mate thing isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be_. In fact, Sungyeol just may be resenting his for never showing up, for giving him false hope. He looked down at his chest, still and cold. _Why do you even bother when she’s not coming at all_?

Sungyeol looked up at the girl, patiently waiting for the idol as she picked at the ends of her pigtails. “Oi,” he caught her attention. “What’s your name?”

The girl immediately dropped her braids and answered cautiously, “Hyekyung.”

Sungyeol took a step closer to the girl. All of the sudden, she started to look smaller and younger. She probably wasn’t much older than a high schooler. “Hyekyung-ssi?” he spoke her name.

“Yes!” she chirped excitedly.

Sungyeol reached over and gave her a quick pat on the head. “Treat him right,” he chided her. Then he put his hands in his pockets and turned on his heels to walk back to his dorm. But before he reached the lobby door, he yelled out to the girl again who was stilled in her spot from shock, “And go home. It’s late.”

“Yes, oppa!”

Sungyeol walked into the elevator and slammed his back against the side. Once again, he missed her, his soul mate. He chewed on his lip and hit the wall with his fist. Not a single person was actually glowing for him. He hadn’t seen anyone glow that night…except for one.

* * *

 

The next morning,  Sungyeol was woken up by the sound of dishes softly clinking against each other and the smell of coffee in the air. Sungyeol was a notorious light sleeper, but this person, he knew, was trying his best to be as quiet as possible. Sungyeol smiled to himself as he heard a plate crashing to the floor and hushed curses. Being completely silent is nearly impossible when you’re a klutz. But Sungyeol didn’t mind. He wanted to catch the other before he left anyways.

With a small smile, Sungyeol threw his covers off and shuffled into the kitchen. He was met with the sight of Myungsoo bent over, mopping up the mess that he just made. Sungyeol quickly grabbed some paper towels and joined him. “You have an early filming today?” he asked.

Myungsoo looked up at him with his jaw slightly unhinged and wide eyes. “Yeol…You’re awake?” He then looked down at the mess at his feet. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, just as long as some of that,” he nodded towards the coffeemaker which was brewing, “is for me.”

Myungsoo nodded sleepily and rubbed his eyes, which you could barely see because his black hoodie was drawn low over his face. “Of course.”

“Oh, I meant to tell you,” Sungyeol began as he got up from the ground and helped Myungsoo up too. “I saw you glowing last night.”

Myungsoo nearly tripped standing up. “I did?” he asked. All of the sudden, he looked more awake and alert and…embarrassed? “W-wait,” he stammered as he processed this new information. His darting eyes then fell upon his friend. “Did you—“

“I didn’t see anybody,” Sungyeol remarked, leaning against the counter and rubbing Myungsoo on the shoulder. “Sorry buddy.” The other looked dejected, completely, and being in a depressed mood isn’t the optimal condition for filming. “But,” he drawled out his words, trying to give the other encouragement. “It was only a dim glow. So it’s probably some fan, waiting outside. That’s good…isn't it?”

But for some reason, Myungsoo didn’t look so excited. The dark circles under his eyes seemed to deepen. “I guess,” he mumbled. He then looked at the clock. “I got to go soon.”

“Good luck, Myung,” he wished his friend as Myungsoo got his stuff together to leave. Sungyeol could see the manager in the hallway, waiting to pick up the actor. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.”

* * *

 

 “What do you think it means when one person glows, but stops, and then someone else glows right after? But then that stops too?”

Sunggyu cocked an eyebrow. “Are you speaking in Korean?” the leader teased.

“Hyung…” Sungyeol whined. He and the rest were practicing their dance while Myungsoo was still filming. Woohyun was still filming too. Sungyeol had been dismissed early and was shuttled back here to practice. But now, they were taking a quick break before starting again.

“Okay, okay,” Sunggyu relented, seeing that Sungyeol wasn’t in the mood. “So you’re both glowing, but not at the same time?”

“Yea,” Sungyeol nodded, and he drank from his bottle. With a hard swallow, he asked, “Is it possible that—“

“You’re soul mates?” Sunggyu finished for him. Sungyeol gave a short nod. The leader tilted his head to the side and shook it. “I don’t think so.”

“Can I?” Dongwoo slid next to Sungyeol and pointed at the water bottle. Sungyeol handed it over to the elder, and soon Hoya appeared next to them too and was also drinking from the bottle.

“When it happened to you, hyung, did it happen at the same time?” Sungyeol asked Sunggyu.

Sunggyu looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. He never really liked talking about his soul mate back home. The members didn’t even know her name. Sometimes Sungyeol wondered if Sunggyu himself knew her name. “Uh, maybe there was a few seconds difference, but we were _definitely_ glowing at the same time. Isn’t that how it happened with you guys?” He then shifted Sungyeol’s focus on the two rappers.

Hoya chuckled a little out of embarrassment. “I can’t really remember. It was so long ago.”

“I think I did,” Dongwoo said, looking at the ceiling as if the answer was written there. “But I wonder…”

“What?” Sungyeol prodded the other.

“Well, Sungjong says that his happened late because they weren’t ready for it before,” Dongwoo began. He looked at the others with a cocked head. “But I wonder what happens when one person is ready and the other isn’t?”

“They wouldn’t glow,” Hoya curtly declared. “There would be no point.”

“Would there? I don’t know,” Dongwoo said, but the look on his face made Sungyeol think that the elder did have an idea. It looked think Dongwoo thought that would be a point to it, to everything.

* * *

 

Later that night, Sungyeol was sitting with Sungjong and Sunggyu on the couch, watching some sort of drama. Sungyeol wasn’t paying too much attention, which probably is the reason why he was the first to notice the apartment door opening up. “Oh, Woohyun-hyung. You’re home!” he announced to the others, seeing Woohyun shuffle into the apartment and shedding coats, bags, and shoes.

“Hyun, come watch with us,” Sunggyu goaded him.

Woohyun looked at the leader and sighed. “Sorry, hyung. I’m just going to bed. I’m tired.”

“O-okay. Oh, Yeol, where are you going?” the leader asked when Sungyeol got up from his seat.

“I, uh, have to ask him about filming tomorrow,” Sungyeol lied as he left the living room and headed for Woohyun’s bedroom. The thing was, he had a question that he could only ask Woohyun. Woohyun was the only one without a soul mate, the only one who had never glowed. And for some reason in Sungyeol’s twisted mind, that made Woohyun unbiased.

“Hyung?” Sungyeol called to the other as he knocked on the bedroom door. Woohyun told him to come in, recognizing his friend’s voice. Sungyeol walked in and saw Woohyun laying on his back on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. “Bad day?”

Woohyun craned his neck to look at the other. “Just…tiring. My shoulder is acting up,” he answered, rolling the said shoulder while wincing. But then he looked up at Sungyeol with knowing and tired eyes. “But that’s not why you came. What is it?”

Sungyeol leaned against the door frame and said in a hushed tone, a little embarrassed to be asking this, “Do you think you have to be soul mates to be in love?” But before Woohyun could answer, loud footsteps were resounding down the hall. Sungyeol looked out the door and saw Sunggyu scurrying off into the bathroom. Sungyeol poked his head out of the door and yelled at the leader, “Hyung! I was about to use it.”

Sunggyu gave the other an apologetic smile. “It’ll only be a second,” he promised as he ducked into the bathroom.

“Aish,” Sungyeol cursed turning back towards Woohyun. “Doesn’t he know that this isn’t his apartment? Why does he even come here?”

Woohyun’s eyes were fixed on that bathroom door with a gaze akin to longing. He then turned his attention to his shoulder again, rubbing it tenderly. “No,” he replied. He looked over at Sungyeol, who was visibly confused. “No, I don’t think you have to be soul mates,” he clarified in a small voice.

A toilet flushing broke the silence that had formed between Sungyeol and Woohyun. The bathroom door opened up, and Sunggyu popped out. He walked up to Sungyeol with a satisfied smile. “It’s all yours now, Yeol,” he said with a pat on the taller’s shoulder. Afterwards the leader brushed past Sungyeol and into the bedroom. “Hey. How’s your shoulder?”

Woohyun shifted over in his bed, making room for Sunggyu who came to sit next to him. “It’s fine, hyung,” he lied between gritted teeth. He then shot a look to Sungyeol, and the other got the message.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sungyeol said as he left and went into his own bedroom.

* * *

 

The word love was practically synonymous with soul mates, at this point. After all, why bother having those feelings if it wasn’t for ‘the one’? But after talking with Woohyun, Sungyeol realized something. Sometimes you can’t help having those feelings, feeling love for someone else even when you weren’t supposed to. Woohyun loved Sunggyu, and that fan Hyekyung loved him. But who did Sungyeol love? Did he love anybody?

Sungyeol closed his eyes as he laid on his bed rubbing his chest. His mind was whirring as he analyzed his members’ relationships.

_Love is…getting along with someone well like Hoya and Shiwon. Knowing i each other ntuitively and how they would react in every circumstance._

_Love is…being excited to see the other, no matter how many times you’ve already met, like Dongwoo and his soul mate. Wanting to run up and hug them immediately after catching sight of them._

_Love is…being patient like Woohyun is with Sunggyu. Waiting and never pressuring the other to return your affections._

_Love is…unexpected like Sungjong’s. It can take you by surprise and happen with your closest friend._

“Shit,” Sungyeol cursed, sitting up and resting his back against the wall. “Am I…but…I can’t. Not with him,” he grumbled as he brought a hand down his face. Tonight was going to be a sleeplessness night.

* * *

 

Sungyeol was the first to get up that morning. He was just waiting on the couch for his manager to come pick him up for their schedules that day. He was going to film for the drama, and then return to practice. _Practice until our feet fall off_. Or at least that’s what it felt like at times. But he was grateful for it. It will keep him distracted. He needed to be distracted from his own thoughts.

“Morning,” a voice garbled. Sungyeol stiffened. _This isn’t helping_. Myungsoo shuffled next to his friend, and then fell onto the couch, onto Sungyeol. He leaned against the other, placing his head drowsily on the taller’s shoulder.

“Y-you have to film today too?” Sungyeol asked quietly, not wanting to awake anyone else in the dorm (but Woohyun should be up by now too. They were supposed to go together). But most of all, he didn’t want to startle Myungsoo. Myungsoo nodded, his cheek and hair brushing against Sungyeol’s sensitive shoulder.

“I don’t want to go,” Myungsoo whined.

Sungyeol chuckled. “I don’t want to go either.” He looked down at the other and raised his shoulder causing the other to fall off. “Hey, let’s run away.”

Myungsoo straightened up and smiled at Sungyeol the way that the CEO and the managers hated, the smile that made him look like an excited dork who could barely contain himself. “Eung,” he agreed. “We could go to LA again. I never got to go to the Hollywood hill. And you can get kissed by that Catwoman again,” he broke out into a laugh. “Oh! And the Grand Canyon! That’s close to LA, right?”

Sungyeol’s smile broadened. “I don’t think so, but let’s go there anyways. Let’s go everywhere except our damn schedules.”

Myungsoo’s laughter abated, and all that was left of it was a small smile. He shook his head. “Sunggyu-hyung would kill us. They all would. And I have to go.” He gave a proud grin. “I’m the second male lead.”

“So am I!” Sungyeol argued. Then he sighed. “Someone’s got to try to steal Seulbi from Woohyun.”

“I don’t know who would pick Shin Woohyun over Hwang Sungyeol. The second male leads are always better,” Myungsoo joked.

But to Sungyeol, it seemed like it was more than just a joke. The way Myungsoo’s eyes darted immediately to the corner of the room, the way he bit his lip afterwards, he was holding something back. “Myung,” Sungyeol spoke softly, and Myungsoo’s head perked up. Their eyes met. And that’s when Sungyeol began to lean in, bringing his face closer to the other until they were about 5cm apart.

 “Sungyeol,” Myungsoo said like a whimper. He leaned back, almost toppling over the armrest. “Wh-what?” His eyes were wide with shock. He was scared.

Sungyeol pulled back to his original spot. He looked down at his fists gripping at the knees of his pants. “I-I…is it not okay?” he asked.

“But we’re not.”

Sungyeol looked over at the other daringly. “Do we have to be?”

Myungsoo avoided his gaze and fixed his eyes on his laps. “I want it to be,” he mumbled. “I want it to be special. I want it to be with my soul mate.” He glanced quickly up at Sungyeol. “Is that weird?”

“No,” Sungyeol shot back, knocking the back of his head against the wall. “It’s what everyone does. It’s just me. I’m weird.”

Right then, before things could worsen (or get better), their manager burst through the door. “Myungsoo-ah! Sungyeol-ah! Time to go! And Nam Woohyun, get your ass out here! You better not be still sleeping!”

* * *

 

Later that day, after all of the filmings were complete, the three joined the others at dance practice. Woohyun’s steps were even heavier now after seeing Saeron finding her true love. And when Sungyeol tried to comfort him, he wouldn’t take it. “At least you’ve glowed before. You’re close! At this rate, I’m never going to meet mine.” _True_ , Sungyeol wanted to say in response. _But at this point, I don’t know if I want her anymore. I’m starting to hate her for always leaving me_.

And Myungsoo seemed to be more in a daze than usual. The mental exertion of acting and dance practice was finally taking its toll. He was just a shell.  

After a few run-throughs, they got their first break. Sungyeol walked over to sit next to his dazed friend. Luckily, Myungsoo didn’t hold his actions this morning against him. Sungyeol was lucky that Myungsoo was forgiving because he tended to mess up a lot. But for now, he wanted to crack a smile across that stoic face, and so he was telling Myungsoo stories from the set. How Woohyun refused to eat any of the chicken that Saeron’s soul mate brought and kept calling it “her love chicken.” Occasionally, the other would laugh, but he’d stare off into space again. Sungyeol sighed. What Myungsoo really needed was rest. And that was the one thing that he wasn’t going to get.

“You f***ing liar!” Woohyun’s cheeky exclamation echoed throughout the room. Sungyeol looked up. Woohyun was glowing…and so was Sunggyu. And now Woohyun was chasing Sunggyu around the room like the young lovers they were. And eventually Woohyun had caught up to Sunggyu with Hoya’s help, and was now planting kisses on the leader’s cheeks. And Sunggyu, despite his protests, was enjoying it, if the wide smile on his face said anything.

Sungyeol then felt a nudged at his side and saw an open palm being thrust in front of his face. _Right_. He had forgotten that they had made this bet during their trainee years, when Sunggyu and Woohyun were constantly butting heads. Myungsoo had sworn that they would become soul mates, and Sungyeol swore that they were going to kill each other. Wedding or funeral, those were the terms. _Wedding it is_. “Aish!” Sungyeol curse as he pulled out his wallet and began putting bills into Myungsoo’s hands. “I can’t believe it. You were right. I wonder why it took so long.”

“I don’t know. It’s probably just the right time,” Myungsoo responded in a distracted voice as he counted the bills.

 _The right time_. Sungyeol looked back at the newly formed couple. Woohyun looked as if the black rain cloud that had been hanging over his head had finally lifted. The two were now in a corner, whispering excitedly, probably saying the things that they had been meaning to say for a while. Sungyeol’s eyes drifted down to their interlocked hands. His eyes widened. _But wait…they_ are _soul mates. This whole time. Woohyun was in love with_ …

“Oh I’m glowing.” Sungyeol stiffened at Myungsoo’s statement. He closed his eyes tightly, wishing and saying prayers to any divinity that was listening. Then he felt warm lips press against his cheeks. Sungyeol opened one eye curiously. He could see half of Myungsoo’s face, grinning like he couldn’t contain his happiness. He kept trying to bite it back, but it kept spilling over. Sungyeol then opened his other eye, noticing how the both of them were practically enveloped in a halo because they were glowing so brightly.

 “Finally.”

Sungyeol pulled the other in and took the kiss that he was robbed of earlier, and this time Myungsoo was more than happy to oblige. And perhaps a bit too eager, as he was squeezing Sungyeol so hard that he was afraid that a lung was going to burst. But Sungyeol didn’t mind one bit. His love was his soul mate. Things were exactly the way that they should be.

“So this is getting ridiculous,” their manager commented after see four of his wards falling in love in less than 5 minutes. “That’s it! Practice is over. It’s ruined anyways. Go home.”


End file.
